Featured Poem: A Diamond of a Morning by Sara Teasdale

This week's Featured Poem is 'A Diamond of a Morning' by Sara Teasdale, chosen by The Reader's Learning and Quality Leader, Amanda Boston.

“This is short.”  In response to receiving a copy of this, undeniably short, 8 line poem.

Concise certainly but rich. We were still animatedly thinking, reading and talking about the poem 30 minutes later. What kind of morning would a diamond of a  morning be? How might it wake us? What compensations for being woken too soon?

Why too soon? A slow second reading, taking a line each this time – lovely to hear everyone’s voice in the room – really brought out the echoing rhymes and made us wonder about the tone of the speaker. O white moon intrigues. It feels like the moon has become a fellow human. What’s the connection? Most of us experience being lonely? How does it affect us? Would it have made any difference if it had said: you are alone?

But we have the world to roam over,
Only the lonely are free?

We talked about roaming and how that feels when our thoughts or imagination roam. Some of us delighted in allowing our thoughts to wander without limits; others not so sure and described blanking some thoughts out.

The final line concerned us – positive or not. What kind of freedom? Free from duty and responsibilities? Look at the faint white moon tomorrow morning, perhaps, before it slips from view and consider this poem.

A Diamond of a Morning

A diamond of a morning     
Waked me an hour too soon;
Dawn had taken in the stars     
And left the faint white moon. 

O white moon, you are lonely,     
It is the same with me,
But we have the world to roam over,     
Only the lonely are free.

by Sara Teasdale

Would you like the opportunity to read this or other poems in a Shared Reading group?

If you like the idea of listening along to a story or poem, why not come along to a Shared Reading group? We run groups across the UK, you can find one near you here.

If you can’t find a group in your local community, why not help us bring Shared Reading to your area by becoming a volunteer?